The Dane was taken to hospital with an injury to his left ankle after a huge crash at 180mph at Raidillon.

Hamilton started in 21st place on the grid, after a raft of engine penalties resulting from failures early in the season.

Carlos Sainz with a punctured rear tyre (Image: Getty)

His partner back there in probably the most talented back row in F1 history was his old rival Fernando Alonso, who used three engines this weekend.

The two made brilliant starts to the race to pass the pits for the first time with Alonso in 11th and Hamilton 13th, helped by a chaotic first lap ahead of them.

A concertina accident between the two Ferraris and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull left all three with damage at the first corner and dropped them down the field - and further back McLaren’s Jenson Button was taken out when Manor’s Pascal Wehrlein smashed up his rear at Les Combes.

Kevin Magnussen's car after he crashed (Image: F1)

Magnussen's car was smashed to pieces (Image: F1)

Kimi Raikkonen suffered a punctured tyre at the start of the race (Image: Getty)

Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel collide in the first corner (Image: AFP/Getty)

Starting on the medium tyres, Alonso and Hamilton moved up as others stopped in front of them on their softer rubber and were in fourth and fifth on lap eight, when Magnussen lost control through the final part of the Eau Rouge swerves.

The accident destroyed the barriers at one of the most dangerous parts of the track and the race was red-flagged after two laps behind the safety car to give marshals time to repair them.

The red flag reset the race, with everyone allowed to change tyres, and it appeared as though Hamilton might now have the chance of an unlikely victory.

The frantic start ensured the safety car was in action before a red flag was shown (Image: Getty)

Hamilton made some push in the opening laps of the race (Image: 2016 Getty Images)

Football manager Andre Villas-Boas was also in attendance (Image: Sutton/Splash News)

But although he quickly passed Alonso’s under-powered McLaren-Honda, it took him until lap 18 of 44 to find a way past the similarly Mercedes-powered Force India of Nico Hulkenberg.

Three laps later, Mercedes brought him in for a new set of tyres, putting him out of sync with those around him and on a different strategy, the idea being to try to attack Daniel Ricciardo on fresher tyres in the closing laps.

Hamilton closed up on Ricciardo before his final stop on lap 32 but was unable to pass him and rejoined between Hulkenberg and his team-mate Sergio Perez.

That left Hamilton too much to do to try to catch Ricciardo, who was able to control the gap to the end.